Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, (born 1715, Smithtown, County Meath, Ire.—died July 11, 1774, near Johnstown, N.Y.) pioneer in the Mohawk Valley, New York, whose service as colonial superintendent of Indian affairs was largely responsible for keeping the Iroquois neutral and even friendly to the British in the latter stages of the struggle with the French for control of North America.

Sir William Johnson, detail of a portrait by Matthew Pratt, c. 1772; in the collection of …

Courtesy of the New York State Education Department

Immigrating to the New World in 1737, Johnson purchased his first tract of land two years later, thus beginning the acquisitions that eventually made him one of the largest landholders and wealthiest settlers in British America. His rapport with neighbouring Indians began early on his estate, Mount Johnson, on the north bank of the Mohawk River, which became a centre of Indian trade and a shelter for the Mohawks. He tried to indoctrinate the natives in European ways by encouraging educational and missionary activities. His ties with the Indians were further cemented when, following the death of his first wife, he married successively two Mohawk women. The second of these was Molly Brant, sister of the Indian leader Joseph Brant.

Because of Johnson’s skill as a diplomat, Gov. George Clinton in 1746 made him colonel of the Iroquois Confederacy. Spending much of his time keeping peace among the tribes, he gleaned valuable information at frequent council meetings and organized and supplied war parties against the French. After a dispute with the provincial assembly several years later, he resigned his superintendency, but when the last French and Indian War broke out (1756) he was hastily pressed into service and promised new authority directly from the crown. At the Albany Congress of 1754 he conducted the British negotiations with the Indians and partially succeeded in assuring their support in the approaching war against the French.

In 1755 Johnson was appointed superintendent of the Iroquois Confederacy and its allies. Commissioned a major general, he defeated French forces at Lake George, N.Y. (September 8). He was made a baronet and the following year reappointed northern Indian superintendent—a post he held for the next 18 years. In 1759 he commanded a force that captured Ft. Niagara, and in 1760 he joined Sir Jeffrey Amherst’s victorious assault on Montreal. After the war he was active in subduing the Indian uprising known as Pontiac’s Conspiracy (1763–64) and was chief British negotiator in the settlement of 1768, the first Treaty of Ft. Stanwix.

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Brant’s sister Molly was the wife of the British superintendent for northern Indian affairs, Sir William Johnson, whom he followed into battle at age 13. He fought for the British in the last French and Indian War (1754–63), and in 1774 he was appointed secretary to Sir William’s successor, Guy Johnson. In 1775 Brant received a captain’s commission and was sent to England, where he was...

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